Josh Homme – Unsung Sundays

Iggy Pop: Post Pop Depression

Nathan Snelgrove — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 12:05:40 +0000

Post Pop Depression was recorded in secrecy. Produced by the inimitable Josh Homme and featuring Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age and The Dead Weather fame) and Matt Helders (the Arctic Monkeys drummer), Iggy Pop looks to the younger forces in rock music to drive some of his existential angst.

Make no mistake, Post Pop Depression — if the album title wasn’t already a clear giveaway — is an existential album. Iggy is in full virtuosic form, with his genius — or Homme’s genius, because who can tell — on full display throughout. Iggy just plain old doesn’t care what you think anymore.

Josh Homme does, though. His production values are incredible on this record: the guitar notes are clear, the drums sound impeccably tough, and the bass hits hard. Homme has given this the same level of production he would a Queens of the Stone Age.

In particular, Gardenia reeks of Homme’s quality production and songwriting. Lyrically, it’s Iggy at his most torrid as he explains how he wants to tell Gardenia “what to do” tonight:

“America’s greatest living poet was ogling you all night. You should be wearing the finest gown, but here you are now — gas, food lodging, poverty, misery, and gardenia.”

And on Paraguay, in the record’s final moments, Iggy accuses the audience of being positively inhuman and tells them he’s tired of all their fear and insecurities. It’s pure Iggy — pure punk.

The inclusion of the other band members is vital, but confusing: is Iggy passing the torch to them? What’s next? When Post Pop Depression was first announced, the first thought I had was about how meta it was. Iggy Pop will come out and pass along the torch, making it clear who’s taking over the rock and roll establishment in his wake.

On Depression, though, Iggy doesn’t do that. He proves he’s still alive, pissed, and ready to take some names. If it really is his final record, it’s a great way to go. It’s an unapologetic admission that Iggy’s tired of being the guy America calls when it needs a friendly old-school rock and roller for an advertisement. It’s Iggy giving the establishment a big middle finger before walking offstage and riding a horse off into the sunset.

Instead of passing the torch, Iggy reminds us that nobody of the current generation can do what he does. He reminds us of his singular talent in front of the mic. It’s a reminder that nobody can do what he do. And maybe the significance of Post Pop Depression’s grease-filled, sexed-up angry sadness is that Iggy’s not ready to die with rock and roll — but he’s going to get out while the getting’s good.

The post Iggy Pop: Post Pop Depression appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

Our Favourite Josh Homme Records

Nathan Snelgrove — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 12:01:06 +0000

But that works out perfectly for us, because it means we get more music from him! Whether he was with Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age, or one of his other side projects, Homme never ceases to surprise us when a new project is launched.

So in celebration of his new record with Iggy Pop this week, Post Pop Depression, we’re looking back at Homme’s best five albums. With a repertoire like Homme’s, five is pretty limiting, so you might be shocked at what does — or doesn’t — make the list.

Eagles of Death Metal

Zipper Down

The latest record from Eagles of Death Metal feels like a total one-off from Homme. Much like his on-again, off-again relationship with the band, Homme embraces his on-again, off-again relationship with old-school rock and roll for this record.

Zipper Down has absolutely no substance value. There is nothing here to listen for deeply. It’s greasy, sexy, riffed-up fun that has no major theme, and nothing to prove. And that’s what makes it so great: more than perhaps any other band, Eagles of Death Metal exists purely to entertain. And that’s wonderful.

Listen: Amazon / Apple Music / iTunes / Spotify

Queens of the Stone Age

...Like Clockwork

…Like Clockwork was the first time a Queens of the Stone Age record hit number one on Billboard, a feat that I’m not sure anybody in the band particularly cares about. It was also their most critically well-received album since Songs for the Deaf, with critics fawning over the album’s weirdness and strange charms.

Make no mistake, …Like Clockwork is weird. It’s undeniably Rolling Stones-esque, but beneath all the sex and booze barely hidden in the album’s riffs, there’s a sense of darkness. The best Queens of the Stone Age records always had a whiff of darkness, and this one is their darkest in years — perhaps ever. Coupled with Homme’s propensity for weird ideas, …Like Clockwork is one of the weirdest albums in rock music.

Read our review | Listen: Amazon / Apple Music / iTunes / Spotify

Kyuss

Blues for the Red Sun

Blues for the Red Sun was not Homme’s most popular record, selling only 39,000 copies originally. But it might be his most influential work: today, almost all of stoner rock is indebted to Kyuss’ sophomore album for setting templates and defining the sound within the spectrum of Homme’s desert rock.

Part of the album’s success is undoubtedly its unhinged sound: Homme churned out the album’s Black Sabbath-style riffs by plugging his down-tuned electric guitar into a bass amp, distorting its tone beyond what a traditional guitar amplifier would be able to accomplish. It makes the album sound unearthly, despite the earthy qualities of its riffs.

If ever there was an album that could be described as the sound of a lumbering giant, Blues for the Red Sun would be it.

Listen: Amazon / Apple Music / iTunes / Spotify

Them Crooked Vultures

Them Crooked Vultures is an unusual supergroup: with Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin fame) in the group, it’s unusual not because of its talent, but because the band is actually great. Somehow able to get past all their egos and make music together just for fun, the resulting debut record is a formidable slab of groovy rock that sounds like a more textured version of a Queens of the Stone Age record.

John Paul Jones is the band’s ultimate weapon. His ability to add texture to a track makes the album stand out. But when the band comes together and unites on a single riff, the possibilities feel endless. The last half of No One Loves Me & Neither Do I is a hard rock tour-de-force that you can’t be prepared for, with the huge riff and pummelling drum work by Grohl hitting you in the face.

Scumbag Blues and Elephants are two perfect examples of the Led Zeppelin influence that Jones brings to the table as well, but they’re also interesting because they reveal a larger sense of scope and texture. Them Crooked Vultures feels like exactly the sort of record you’d expect from Homme, but it also carries a certain amount of surprise with it too.

Read our review | Listen: Amazon / Apple Music / iTunes / Spotify

Queens of the Stone Age

Songs for the Deaf

Songs for the Deaf was a critical darling that catapulted Queens of the Stone Age into the mass media. Featuring drum work by Dave Grohl, the concept album was meant to simulate driving through the desert while listening to different radio stations along the way. Hence, in between tracks, there’s often a fake radio excerpt played as if the station were changing.

In a sense, that running joke became the album’s stroke of genius and made Queens of the Stone Age known as total satirical oddballs. Detractors of the band say that Queens of the Stone Age has one style, and the big joke of the record is that every radio station sounds the same. It’s a tongue-in-cheek admission that the band is neither radio-friendly or stylistically well-rounded, but also a simple suggestion that if the radio was all it was cracked up to be, then it would play Queens of the Stone Age.

All of that would mean nothing if the album wasn’t any good, but it might be the band’s best. It’s balls-to-the-wall riffs, with Homme at his absolute best as a songwriter and vocalist. As the band cycles through riff after riff, they make it clearer than ever that they are not their influences, and they’re able to continue pushing hard rock and metal to new limits.

Listen: Amazon / Apple Music / iTunes / Spotify

The post Our Favourite Josh Homme Records appeared first on Unsung Sundays.

Them Crooked Vultures: Them Crooked Vultures

Nathan Snelgrove — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 12:01:11 +0000

I mentioned Them Crooked Vultures off-handedly way back in the first week of Unsung, and have never actually recommended their full record. That shocks me. I have returned back to the supergroup’s debut more than any retro-inspired rock record of the past five years, and it’s high time I wrote about it.

If you live under a rock or missed this record when it came out, Them Crooked Vultures is a supergroup consisting of John Paul Jones (from Led Zeppelin) on bass, Dave Grohl (of Nirvana/Foo Fighters) on drums, and Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss) taking care of vocals and rhythm guitar work. This was their first and (so far) only record.

What makes the record so special is its throwback vibes delivered with modern kerfuffle and sincerity. Top notch production means that John Paul Jones’ masterful bass work can actually be heard. Grohl pounds the drums like you’ve never heard him pound drums. Josh Homme is in top form. The band sounds like a Zeppelin-inspired Queens of the Stone Age most of the time, but that’s a great thing because it makes all these guys better.

Each of the songs is worth listening to, with nary a bad one in the record, but the best songs tend to be the long ones. Zeppelin was always at their best when they were free to write epic rockers, and the formula works here too. I can’t recommend this album enough; it’s one of my favourites.

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Queens of the Stone Age: Like Clockwork

Nathan Snelgrove — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 12:02:59 +0000

I have an on-again, off-again relationship with Queens of the Stone Age. …Like Clockwork is bringing me back. It’s as dirty a rock and roll record as you could want from Josh Homme and friends.

It sounds like Josh learned a lot from Them Crooked Vultures, his (awesome) side project with members of The Foo Fighters and Led Zeppelin. The songs are tight and try new things with the QOTSA sound, and it’s an immensely rewarding listen.

The first two singles, My God is the Sun and I Appear Missing are sadly two of the least interesting songs on the album. Songs like If I Had a Tail and I Sat by the Ocean are reminiscent of The Rolling Stones, but are recognizably Queens of the Stone Age. Songs like The Vampyre of Time and Memory (check it out live) are unlike anything the group’s ever done before. This is definitely going to go down as one of the most interesting rock records of the year.

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